Something for the Family Trunk

The snow-inspired project was so exciting for me that I was really quite devastated that it would not work. I frogged it three times and then gave up. I was sad ((The shawl will return. I’m just waiting for new and improved charts to be released.))

Something soft and intricate was definitely indicated after knitting with horrible aran yarn for a couple of days and I was not going to be thwarted- so, meet the Jessie Lambdin Shawl!

I purchased the pattern for the Jessie Lambdin Shawl some time ago. It is part of my strategy for pushing my skills beyond their current limits until I can knit some real heirloom standard items. A kind of mid-way project, before tackling something truly impressive. It is a triangular shape, admittedly, but knitted in 2ply on finer needles than have been seen in these here parts for some time, and it’s larger than recent FOs.

This will certainly be one of my ten shawls in 2010 and it meets several of my goals ((Uses stash, is larger, uses paid pattern not yet knitted from, extends skills set)), even if it is a triangle. I’m using yarn from stash (Aurora from The Yarn Yard) and desperately hope that I have sufficient. It is difficult to tell how much yarn is needed: the pattern page says 2,000 yards – but that is because two 1,000 yard skeins are needed to complete it in the named yarn. My yarn is a slightly different weight and I am using slightly smaller needles because of that – so I should have plenty in my 1,312 yards. My shawl is likely to be smaller than the given dimensions of 66″ wide by 40″ long but you can still see that this is an entirely new category of shawl for me – especially as I am using 2.5mm needles.

It will take me a while.

But it is purdy. Oh, yes.

Here’s the yarn

Aurora from The Yarn Yard

I haven’t got very far with it yet, so no progress pictures are available. I had a few fraught hours when I reached Row 65. Terminal stupidity set in and I became very frustrated. By the time I had realised that I was misreading a symbol, where the downward leg was obscured by the thick line drawn around the repeating section, I was more than ready to give things a rest.

Then the Evenstar beckoned for attention in order to have Clue 1 re-knit before Clue 2 was released.

Evenstar will continue to take priority. I shall knit on Jessie Lambdin in clue-waiting periods, but also on other concurrent projects. This shawl will take considerable time to come to fruition but I do hope to have it completed by the end of July…

The Family Trunk Project

The Jessie Lambdin Shawl is part of the Family Trunk Project. I have written of this in the past but newer readers might be interested to learn more. Sub-titled A Sartorial Story of One American Family, the patterns are designed by Emily Johnson. She is producing a garment design for each node of her family tree inspired by that member of the tree. She writes a little of their story and is interested in your stories too – you can purchase patterns from the project by submitting pages of your own family history.

It’s a fascinating project and an attractive and interesting site. I recommend clicking on a link and going for a little exploration.